In The Repeating Island, Antonio Benintez-Rojo writes on postindustrial societies
inaccurate views of the Caribbean as a common archipelago and calls on postindustrial
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
Repeating Island will be examined in validating Benitez- Rojo’s perspective that the Caribbean
is a meta-archipleago with no boundaries or center: Columbus’s machine to the sugar-making
machine, the apocalypse to chaos, rhythm to polyrhythm, and literature to carnival.
The first way Benitez-Rojo draws attention to his perspective is through his
analysis on how the Atlantic became known as the Atlantic because of the presence of
European slave plantations, piracy, servitude, and monopoly over the trades in the
Caribbean. He refers to Christopher Columbus presence in Hispaniola as the starting
point of “the machine” (Benitez- Rojo 5) that brought a wealth of goods
from Hispaniola to Spain, who then spread its profitable practice to Cuba, Jamaica, and
Puerto Rico at the expense of native people (6). After the Cape San Vicente disaster,
where the Spanish lost treasure from French pirates, in 1565 Columbus’s machine
expanded its conquests of gold, silver, and diamonds thus creating the fleet. The fleet not
only helped the Spanish become wealthy, it made the Caribbean a meta-archipelago
because of its presence in the waters of the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific. Menendez
de Aviles’s fleet proved successful in protecting gold and silver from pirate attacks
through the use of Caribbean ports, forts, militia, and geography (8).
In today’s Caribbean “the machine” is referred to as the plantation, which the
Europeans controlled all aspects o...
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...ted by it (23).
Benitez-Rojo calls on a rereading of the Caribbean text and states once this is done, the result is
the text showing the harmony of rhythms whose attempts to escape ‘in a certain kind of
way’ (28). It is through carnaval the text can be seen in its most natural form, a meta-archipleago
of everyday life.
In The Repeating Island, Antonio Benintez-Rojo defends his perspective that the
Caribbean is a meta-archipleago with no boundaries or center through his writing on Columbus’s
machine to the sugar-making machine, the apocalypse to chaos, rhythm to polyrhythm, and
literature to carnival. He debunks postindustrial society’s view of the Caribbean as a common
archipelago by examining what makes the Caribbean, the Caribbean through its history and
culture, which persuades the reader to reexamine the various writing on the Caribbean.
“…staring at the sea, beer in hand…Free time is now the luxury, not sugar…or any of the goods that delighted the fickle tastes of Europeans…Such goods are now taken for granted – they came with a price, too, though that has long been forgotten (Gibson, 347).” In response, after reading a passage that states, “What is the earthly paradise for our visitors? Two weeks without rain and a mahogany tan…at sunset, local troubadours in straw hats and floral shirts beating ‘Yellow Bird’ and ‘Banana Boat Song’ to death…every island, is an effort of memory; every mind, every racial biography culminating in amnesia and fog (Gibson, 348).” I am truly in agreeance with Gibson, visitors are devoid of Caribbean culture and history to this
Puerto Rico. The. Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2007. 2.
Gonzales, Jose Luis. Puerto Rico: the Four Storeyed Country and Other Essays (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishing Inc.)1-30.
The numerous historical, economical, social, and political circumstances of Puerto Rico as a colony has affected identity formation of its people. In 1508, Ponce de Leon led the arrival of Spanish into Puerto Rico. Between the years of 1511-1513, Taínos fought against the Spaniards because they were taking away the Taíno culture. An outright rebellion with guerrilla warfare occurred in 1511 and then 1513-1514 experienced a lessening of this overt manner of rebellion and a conversion to more evasive and passive forms of resistance (Figueroa, Sept. 22).
For most of its history, Puerto Rico has been controlled by an outside power, and its people oppressed. While Puerto Rico is currently a U.S. territory, Spanish colonialism has had a significant impact on the island’s development and identity. The history of the island itself is proof of this fact, demonstrating each step Puerto Rico took to reach its current state. By examining the stages of Spanish control that Puerto Rico experienced, we can determine how each stage affected the structure and identity of Puerto Rico.
isles, the Britains constantly sent out ships to other parts of the world to make them part
How did the Atlantic System affect Europe, Africa, and the Americas? (The Earth and Its Peoples, 500)
The Caribbean is comprised of a group of island. Jamaica is one of the greatest Antilles. It has a tropical climate. Each country has its own culture, Jamaicans is not an exemption, and they have an assorted and distinctive one. “Their culture is a complex mixture of African, Arabic, European, East Indian, and Chinese roots combining together to create a rich, dynamic heritage” (Gall, 2009).
Set in St. Lucia, Walcott’s Omeros reveals an island possessing a rich past. St. Lucia, a former colony, has a history of ‘pagan’ religion and tradition, a different language, and an economic background based namely on fishing. Locals must try to reconcile their heritage prior to colonization, the influences of colonization, and how to create a new culture from the ashes of the others (Hogan 17).
de Las Casas, Bartolomé. The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account. Translation, Briffault, Herma, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London © 1992.
The majority of the nearly 500,000 slaves on the island, at the end of the eighteenth century endured some of the worst slave conditions in the Caribbean. These people were seen as disposable economic inputs in a colony driven by greed. Thus, they receive...
As Casale states the Atlantic was not of great importance to the Ottomans. Instead there interes...
A society is a body of people that are characterized by culture and population among other things. Through research it was found that there are three theories that can explain the formation of a Caribbean society. These three theories are Creole, Plantation and Plural society and they all were able to explain a lot about the Caribbean society over years. However when it comes to the Caribbean today one theory seems to stand out more than the rest.
When one thinks of Barbados, one thinks of luscious, turquoise blue waters; soft white sand beaches; blue, white clouded skies; fresh fruits; exotic, delicious dishes and honeymoons. One, however, tends to forget the formation of this land. This Caribbean luxury Island has much history and great heritage. In this report, I will detail Barbados’s location, history, labor relations, population size and structure, industries, plus add a little zest with the beauty of the Island.
Modernization theory is an unworkable guide for facilitating Caribbean growth because of the many weaknesses, which have been highlighted. The modernization theory although is without a doubt one of he most influential theory, is in fact an unworkable guide to Caribbean development as it simply describes the development process without showing how it might be achieved. The theory is in fact a unilinear, ethnocentric theory and it is with all it's shortcomings which one can conclude that it provides an unworkable guide to Caribbean development.